Tropicos | Name - !Meriania Sw.

!Meriania Sw.

Flora Data (Last Modified On 1/10/2013)

Genus	MERIANIA Sw.
PlaceOfPublication	Fl. Ind. Occ. 2:823. 1800.
Description	Flowers 5-merous or rarely 6-merous. Hypanthium campanulate to hemi- spheric, pubescent or glabrous. Calyx truncate to conspicuously lobed; exterior teeth often present and in some species exceeding the sepals. Petals large, purple to white. Stamens isomorphic or dimorphic; filaments elongate; anthers subulate to ovoid-lanceolate, declined in one direction transversely across the flower by the twisting of the filaments; connective sometimes prolonged at base and ending in a short, retrorse or divergent, basal spur, also in many species bearing a longer dorsal spur directed forward. Ovary superior, 3- to 5-celled; style elongate; stigma punctiform. Fruit a many-seeded capsule. Trees or shrubs, glabrous or variously pubescent, the flowers solitary in the axils or paniculate.
Distribution	About 55 species; a few in the West Indies, others in southern Brazil, and most numerous in the mountains from Venezuela and Columbia to Peru. The following are the only known species in Central America.
Key	a. Leaves cuneate at base, glabrous beneath ........................................... 1. M. PANAMENSIS. aa. Leaves rounded or subcordate at base, canescent beneath ........................... 2. M. MACROPHYLLA.